So Long Northern MI

Yep... I'm leaving the North! I'm sad to say the least but I'm excited for new adventures. I'm going to grand rapids Wyoming area to stl with Sister Schmidt!! I'm taking my trainers place haha. That's where sis Hansen went when she left Cheboygan and now it's where I'm going!! Pretty crazy. 

The traverse city district is the best place in the world full of the best people. I'm going to miss them all so so much. I can't wait to see this district become a stake and I know it's going to happen soon! I feel so honored that I got to be a part of it all. The Lord has been good to me!! 

I love being a part of the Lord's work. I've been humbled in a lot of ways and I'm so grateful that we have a Savior who we can turn to. Because of Him, we can repent and change. We can become who the Lord ultimately wants us to be. 

We taught Landon part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week and in our preperation for his lesson Sister Sampson showed me a diagram that I LOVE! Pretty sure I've seen it before but it hit differently this time. 

There's us- then a line connecting us and God. In that line are two caverns. The first one is death. It's filled with the cross of Christ so that we can climb over it. The second one is Sin. We all fall into that one..  lots of times. But, because of the Saviors Atonement, we can make it out of the cavern of sin. We climb up through the steps of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism (our first covenant with God), receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Then we can make it to our Heavenly home and be with our loving Father and Savior again. I love this plan that He has for us! He has provided the way- but we need to give our effort as well. When we do those 5 steps, over and over again, we become better and better. And we can make it to God. It makes me happy! 

A scripture from the Book of Mormon has stood out to me this week: 

"Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism." (Alma 7:15) 

FEAR NOT. Christ's arms are ALWAYS outstretched towards us! We can have hope and peace as we change through Him. It often seems like a scary thing- change. But it doesn't have to be! Repentance is JOYFUL. We GET the opportunity to change. How great is that?! 

I'm also so grateful to know that God still works miracles today. Our Bible study last night was on the Father who brings his suffering son to be healed by Christ. He first says, "Lord, I believe". Then he says "help thou my unbelief". Elder Holland said: "hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes." 

When we hold onto the faith we have- God can work miracles in our lives. We don't need a perfect knowledge, or even perfect faith. All we need is a trust in the Savior and God that whatever their will is is what's best for us. 

Anyways. There's my spiritual tangent for the week:) 

We saw so many miracles. We've seen them because we've expected them! When we're doing everything we can on our end to be obedient and accept the will of the Lord, He's blessed us with miracles. Like the other day at the beach (I swear so many miracles happen at the beach) we met a man named Brandon. He's a father and wants what's best for his family. He's heard of our church before, and we shared how the Gospel has blessed our families. And how it's helped us to feel safe at home. We gave him a book of Mormon and our number then HE texted US!! it was a miracle. I know he'll accept the restored Gospel someday. I can't wait for that to happen because then he can be sealed with his family forever! :) 

I've loved every minute of my time here in Traverse City. I love Sister Sampson and am so grateful for the example she is to me!! I've learned a ton from her. 

I'll miss Lisa, Landon, Amelia, Blessing, and everyone else we're teaching. They are some incredible people with the strongest faith. I really look up to them!!

Love y'all! 

Sista Ross 

It's gonna be out of order but: 

Pumpkin spice ice cream! 

Blessing!! She is amazing. I can't wait for her to read the Book of Mormon! 

The diagram 

District council- the sistaz

Amelia!!!! ♡♡♡

District council- everyone 

Taco bell dinner- turns out I really love taco bell (it's cheap!)